As you like. Feel free to call me Charles, too. Kyle's told me a great deal about you - all of it good, even though, admittedly, the clown paintings go over my head. [They're damned useful, though.]
Neptune Lounge this evening? I can meet you there after 9.
tbh the clowns were kind of an in-joke with my old friends here, and now none of them are about to remember it, and so everyone else is just like yo what's with the clowns nate
so i just sort of own it and accept that clowns are my theme now
anyway, yeah. i'll be there you sure you're good with talking about this somewhere that public? because i could get us a private space if you'd like
Not to worry. I already 'blasted' this across the network the last time I was looking for help. [Ever-prepared, Charles adds a link to his public broadcast.] By this point, I'd be surprised if there's any vampire, or LIER following the supernatural happenings in the city, who hasn't caught wind.
That posting explains much of the problem on its own, but there have been developments that I'll fill you in on.
In that case, I'll book a private room, and meet you there.
[He's not concerned about whatever the other man might be planning on asking him to dig into - after allowing Alaric into his mind, there isn't anything he can imagine being more disquieting - but without knowing what's coming, privacy seems best for the sake of anyone who might happen to listen in.
And at 9 pm on the dot, Charles is waiting for Nate in the aforementioned back room. It's a comfortable and vintage space that's lit more dimly than the lounge beyond it, and dotted with a series of comfortable armchairs. Force of habit has the vampire smoking a pipe to settle his mind, when a knock finally comes at the door.]
Come in. [Setting down his pipe, Charles rises politely to his feet as the door opens.] It's a pleasure to finally put a face to a name. I won't ask if the city's treated you kindly on your return, [Because it doesn't. Ever.] but I hope you've managed to find the ground beneath your feet.
[ Nate's glad to be in a private room. He used to spend so much time in bars and clubs, and now they feel so very full of people to him. He's quick to ask after Charles, and when the door shuts behind him, he feels himself relax somewhat. Then he smiles, and offers Charles his hand. ]
Nice to meet you, and I'm working on it. The impromptu kidnapping didn't help. I can't tell you how excited I am to get used to that sort of thing again.
[ He moves to sit. Nate has a youthful face peppered with black-studded piercings. He's wearing a large leather jacket that's too big for him, but what can be seen of his neck betrays the start of the tattoos that line his arms. He looks, in short, quite different from the gentlemanly vampire he finds himself meeting. ]
You smoke. I mean, you're capable of smoking, which implies...breathing, and so on.
[The joke earns a small, sympathetic smile, and a dry,] The most unwelcome kind of welcome party anyone could imagine. Unfortunately, you managed to arrive right at the end of what I'd consider a quieter period. [Loosely speaking. Very loosely speaking.] LIES hasn't taken direct action against us like this in months.
[When Nate settles in, Charles moves to sit in a chair across from him.]
Breathe, yes, but draw oxygen into the blood, no. [Out of politeness and his recognition of the lack of moving air in the room, the vampire presses a thumb over the bowl of his pipe to extinguish it.] As far as I've seen, no two vampires in this place are alike - which, truthfully, is what's made finding any kind of lasting solution for my breed of bloodlust difficult.
Months? I wonder what prompted it now. [ He lifts his eyebrows. ] I'll try and not take it personally.
[ It probably doesn't really matter. LIES would always have come back at them at some point, it's what they do.
It is worth talking about that, though. ]
To be honest, there's been a few that are alike. You know Kyle. He and Hope Mikaelson are the same kind of vampire, although Hope has more than that going on. And then, back in the day, there was Lestat and Louis. They were the same as each other, but different from Kyle and Hope, and they didn't share the same...allergies, I'll call it. Which is mainly why I raise the question. [ He is unaware that Lestat is back in the city; the version he knew was here some time ago. ] Am I taking it then that you're not the same kind as anyone else who's here? You were changed back in your own world?
Your guess is as good as mine. The last time I suspected that LIES was building to something bigger, that pattern ended up not being a pattern at all. I've learned to pay attention, but not overinvest in the idea that there's going to be a broader point besides random cruelty.
[It's the only consistency he's noted with LIES.]
As far as I can tell, yes. If there's another vampire here from my version of Earth, [he hopes it isn't one of the Liberated] or associated with the same First Sire, I haven't met them yet. Versions of bloodlust and psychic ability among city vampires do abound, though. [Just not in a way that's been helpful for him controlling himself.]
I'm aware that my 'uniqueness' might make any kind of intervention more dependent on experimentation. For my part, I do accept that.
Alright. Well...for example, have you any problems with silver? Or any herbs, like garlic, for example. My spells tend to involve components, especially when I'm making bespoke charms. I'd want to avoid anything that might harm you.
Well, on purpose anyway. I have a few different ideas. But either way, that info's going to be handy.
Charles bends at the middle and brings a hand to his jaw, his gaze growing distant with thought for a moment.]
None of the more typical vampiric vulnerabilities on other versions of Earth affect my kind, besides sunlight. Starvation, aphrodisiacs, adrenaline compounds, and magics that fracture the conscious mind, are dangerous. [He straightens again.] Not the usual components of spells, I'd imagine, but I won't assume.
Aphrodisiacs? [ Nate repeats, looking surprised. That's very far from a typical vampire allergy.
Unless... ]
You mean that, um. Anything that gets you excited, it makes it harder to keep control? [ That would explain why adrenaline is a problem, too. ] That must be extremely hard to deal with, here.
[He appreciates the sympathy, even if it doesn't feel necessary at this point in his stay in Duplicity. His situation is what it is. All he can do is try to prepare as much as he can for the ways the city might try to fuck with him.]
That's correct. It's given me good to reason to observe the rules where and when I can. [Regardless of how he feels about them.] A trip to the SLUT centre always means dangerous stakes.
I'm happy to explain my condition and its origins in more detail, if that'd be useful.
[He knows his situation is unique in some ways among Duplicity's vampires, which could make it harder to wrap the mind around, so he takes his time to organize his thoughts before he begins to explain.]
I was turned in 1915. Being an elder vampire does make a difference for my kind - if we manage to live that long with our minds intact, the experience insulates a vampire from falling to bloodlust. Bloodlust is a reaction to starvation or sufficient overstimulation, and on Earth, as long as a vampire feeds on a schedule and is careful with their associations, it's simple enough to avoid ending up underfed or overstimulated. [Particularly if someone has ready access to blood. Like a medical professional.]
None of that experience or preparation means anything here. The last time I experienced bloodlust was in 1936, but as soon as I arrived here, it happened twice in my first four months. [His expression pulls into something tight, and grim.] As I mentioned in my posting, I know the first time was because of whatever stimulating compound I was given in the SLUT centre. The second time, I can only assume magic was involved.
All vampires on my Earth are connected to a being referred to as the 'First Sire'. What she was before she became the creature she is, I don't know, but in 2023 she was a demigod of sorts, and a being of pure madness, bloodlust, and physical lust. Falling to bloodlust draws a vampire further along their path to becoming a creature like her, and each successive time strips away more self-control, and conscious sense of self. I haven't witnessed the end result myself, but there's enough Liberated lore on the matter to suppose that the creature that emerges on the other side isn't much more than a whirlwind of mindless collateral damage.
[He frowns slightly.] There's a psychic and hive mind element to the condition, too, but I've only recently discovered parts of this for myself. When a sorcerer with psychic magics attempted to force me into unconsciousness, my power reacted on its own, and I tried to break him psychologically. [He doesn't know how else to explain it, when the memory is as foggy as it is. All that remains is a shadowy mirror of the feeling of being in bloodlust, and having a weaker creature prostrated before his claws.]
From all of this, I've gathered that it's more important that I be stopped in the middle of bloodlust, rather than trying to prevent it wholesale. No matter what I do, I think it's safe to assume that it's going to keep happening, because the city has advanced technologies and ways of influencing us that none of us understand.
You've seen 2023, then, you've been a vampire for more than a hundred years.
[ it's a long time. Something about the modernity of it resonates with Nate. From Charles' dress and manner he'd thought him from an earlier time. Apparently not. ]
That's...okay.
[ He frowns. ]
Okay. There's a lot in that. My magic isn't really good against what the city does, they can just alter it, or nullify it altogether. Basically if the effect comes from them, there's no guarantee I could stop it.
But maybe I could still stop you. Make a charm that would, I don't know. Slow you down, or shock you hard enough to break through the fugue. Or if that wouldn't be enough, something to knock you out, maybe. We can experiment, see what works and what you're comfortable with.
But...tell me about this psychic sorcerer, too. Do you know their name?
[Charles nods. They're on the same page, and it sounds like Nate is truly invested in doing whatever he can in his power to help. It feels hopeful, and he's grateful. Real thanks will have to happen after this entire process, but it's not something he's going to forget.]
That's the idea I reached with a few others: something to stop me, even if the city's interventions themselves can't be stopped. Alaric - the psychic magic-user - was in the process of testing a measure of that nature on me, but he vanished from the city before it could be rooted in my mind. [He knows it's selfish to begrudge anyone leaving the city, but it'd been devastating to find out Alaric was gone, and made the same desperation he'd felt in February rear its ugly head all over again.]
Can you tell me a little more about your magics? I'm not picky about solutions, provided they work, [he admits] but I'd like to know how your power works, and where it comes from. [A beat.] No trade secrets, of course. [He does remember seeing something on the network about Nate starting up a business of some kind.]
[ Charles may not know it, but this is absolutely Nate's favourite subject. ]
Magic is...everywhere. In everyone, everything, between places. It's the energy between realms. Most people can't see it, but witches like me can manipulate that energy. We're born with the power.
Technically speaking anyone could be born sensitive to it, to some degree, but it's rare. Witching families like mine have been cultivating the talent for centuries, through...selective marriage and. Well, breeding. My family, the Hawthornes, are one of the oldest, and strongest of them, so we have access to a wealth of knowledge gathered over time.
Just having the sensitivity isn't enough, you have to learn how to wield it. We've put structure around it, like a curriculum. Witches keep personal grimoires that record what they've learned. Work hard enough, and you can even learn to create spells, drawing on raw magic and manipulating it with your will. It takes time, and...obsession, frankly.
[ He shrugs his shoulders. ]
It's all secret in my world, or it's supposed to be. I actively caused a problem on that front for some time, there's a lot of traditions I don't agree with. But it's different here, anyway. Everything supernatural is a bit more...known, and close to the surface.
[Charles listens intently, drawing upon the little he knows about the magic of his own world, and trying to use that to better understand what he's hearing. There are some similarities - the secretive nature of some of those who use magic, and the way it's cultivated over time - but they end abruptly.]
To a certain degree. The part that doesn't make sense to me, is why magic like yours - and frankly, that of many others - should work in a place like this, when it must be drawn from your home world. [A beat.] But I have a feeling that's another of Duplicity's unexplained [but in this case, helpful] mysteries.
No, not drawn from my home world. Quite the opposite. It's drawn from everywhere, all the time. Every world exists at once, and the spaces between those worlds is where magic comes from. It's everywhere, every time and every place. See, any world is a physical place. Magic isn't physical, it's something beyond. It doesn't have those kinds of constraints.
[ He lifts his shoulders, before leaning forward a bit on the table. ]
[The vampire's eyebrows rise. He's never been a fan of the theory of the multiverse, but he's had to swallow that ever since arriving in the city. It's not simply wild speculation devoid of concrete evidence, any more. The multiverse is real, and Duplicity proves it.
It's not magic's fault, exactly, but so much in Duplicity is a mess, scientifically. If he stops to consider the tangled logic of it all for too long, it gets frustrating.]
So, following that explanation, the magic you draw on exists in all of our home worlds, too. It's simply a matter of whether anyone from where we came from has discovered it and mastered the ability to use it, or not.
Theoretically, yes, I suppose. I mean, maybe there are other worlds where they have, or they call it something different. Or it manifests differently. A lot of worlds call on magic of some kind. If you ask me, we all just have different ways of relating to the same thing.
[ Nate's magic works differently from Stephen Strange's, and so on. He isn't troubled by that. Every world is different, too. Why would it be surprising that magic might take different forms in each one? ]
I like that thought. Like the chaos of nature, expressing itself in different ways across an infinite universe.
[He can't help himself. Even though he's grown more accustomed to the chaos and randomness of life over time, a core part of him will always see it as mess in need of research, understanding, and fitting into the known logic of the universe.]
Chaos that, often enough, has rules guiding its expression. [Even nautilus shells express the Fibonacci sequence.] I prefer your explanation to the one I've heard often enough from other magic users in the city, which mostly amounts to shrugging, and saying it 'is what it is'.
Yes, well. I've had to spend a lot of time thinking about the nature of the universe. My world's in some trouble on that front.
But...I can't change that here, and I much prefer problems I can solve, so. What do you think would work best, for getting you out of bloodlust? Could a shock bring you back to yourself, or would you need to be knocked out entirely?
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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he gave me the general idea too, but it wasn't a lot to go on
can we meet, and talk through what you need?
also you can just call me nate, it's all good. any friend of kyle's is a friend of mine
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Neptune Lounge this evening? I can meet you there after 9.
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so i just sort of own it and accept that clowns are my theme now
anyway, yeah. i'll be there
you sure you're good with talking about this somewhere that public? because i could get us a private space if you'd like
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That posting explains much of the problem on its own, but there have been developments that I'll fill you in on.
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9pm tonight?
text → action
[He's not concerned about whatever the other man might be planning on asking him to dig into - after allowing Alaric into his mind, there isn't anything he can imagine being more disquieting - but without knowing what's coming, privacy seems best for the sake of anyone who might happen to listen in.
And at 9 pm on the dot, Charles is waiting for Nate in the aforementioned back room. It's a comfortable and vintage space that's lit more dimly than the lounge beyond it, and dotted with a series of comfortable armchairs. Force of habit has the vampire smoking a pipe to settle his mind, when a knock finally comes at the door.]
Come in. [Setting down his pipe, Charles rises politely to his feet as the door opens.] It's a pleasure to finally put a face to a name. I won't ask if the city's treated you kindly on your return, [Because it doesn't. Ever.] but I hope you've managed to find the ground beneath your feet.
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Nice to meet you, and I'm working on it. The impromptu kidnapping didn't help. I can't tell you how excited I am to get used to that sort of thing again.
[ He moves to sit. Nate has a youthful face peppered with black-studded piercings. He's wearing a large leather jacket that's too big for him, but what can be seen of his neck betrays the start of the tattoos that line his arms. He looks, in short, quite different from the gentlemanly vampire he finds himself meeting. ]
You smoke. I mean, you're capable of smoking, which implies...breathing, and so on.
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[When Nate settles in, Charles moves to sit in a chair across from him.]
Breathe, yes, but draw oxygen into the blood, no. [Out of politeness and his recognition of the lack of moving air in the room, the vampire presses a thumb over the bowl of his pipe to extinguish it.] As far as I've seen, no two vampires in this place are alike - which, truthfully, is what's made finding any kind of lasting solution for my breed of bloodlust difficult.
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[ It probably doesn't really matter. LIES would always have come back at them at some point, it's what they do.
It is worth talking about that, though. ]
To be honest, there's been a few that are alike. You know Kyle. He and Hope Mikaelson are the same kind of vampire, although Hope has more than that going on. And then, back in the day, there was Lestat and Louis. They were the same as each other, but different from Kyle and Hope, and they didn't share the same...allergies, I'll call it. Which is mainly why I raise the question. [ He is unaware that Lestat is back in the city; the version he knew was here some time ago. ] Am I taking it then that you're not the same kind as anyone else who's here? You were changed back in your own world?
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[It's the only consistency he's noted with LIES.]
As far as I can tell, yes. If there's another vampire here from my version of Earth, [he hopes it isn't one of the Liberated] or associated with the same First Sire, I haven't met them yet. Versions of bloodlust and psychic ability among city vampires do abound, though. [Just not in a way that's been helpful for him controlling himself.]
I'm aware that my 'uniqueness' might make any kind of intervention more dependent on experimentation. For my part, I do accept that.
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Alright. Well...for example, have you any problems with silver? Or any herbs, like garlic, for example. My spells tend to involve components, especially when I'm making bespoke charms. I'd want to avoid anything that might harm you.
Well, on purpose anyway. I have a few different ideas. But either way, that info's going to be handy.
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Charles bends at the middle and brings a hand to his jaw, his gaze growing distant with thought for a moment.]
None of the more typical vampiric vulnerabilities on other versions of Earth affect my kind, besides sunlight. Starvation, aphrodisiacs, adrenaline compounds, and magics that fracture the conscious mind, are dangerous. [He straightens again.] Not the usual components of spells, I'd imagine, but I won't assume.
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Unless... ]
You mean that, um. Anything that gets you excited, it makes it harder to keep control? [ That would explain why adrenaline is a problem, too. ] That must be extremely hard to deal with, here.
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That's correct. It's given me good to reason to observe the rules where and when I can. [Regardless of how he feels about them.] A trip to the SLUT centre always means dangerous stakes.
I'm happy to explain my condition and its origins in more detail, if that'd be useful.
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If you wouldn't mind, I think it might. I mean, I know Kyle's lost control before, but I'd say by and large it hasn't been a problem for him.
Does it happen for you often, and how easily? And how, um. Recently, were you turned? Is that a factor?
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I was turned in 1915. Being an elder vampire does make a difference for my kind - if we manage to live that long with our minds intact, the experience insulates a vampire from falling to bloodlust. Bloodlust is a reaction to starvation or sufficient overstimulation, and on Earth, as long as a vampire feeds on a schedule and is careful with their associations, it's simple enough to avoid ending up underfed or overstimulated. [Particularly if someone has ready access to blood. Like a medical professional.]
None of that experience or preparation means anything here. The last time I experienced bloodlust was in 1936, but as soon as I arrived here, it happened twice in my first four months. [His expression pulls into something tight, and grim.] As I mentioned in my posting, I know the first time was because of whatever stimulating compound I was given in the SLUT centre. The second time, I can only assume magic was involved.
All vampires on my Earth are connected to a being referred to as the 'First Sire'. What she was before she became the creature she is, I don't know, but in 2023 she was a demigod of sorts, and a being of pure madness, bloodlust, and physical lust. Falling to bloodlust draws a vampire further along their path to becoming a creature like her, and each successive time strips away more self-control, and conscious sense of self. I haven't witnessed the end result myself, but there's enough Liberated lore on the matter to suppose that the creature that emerges on the other side isn't much more than a whirlwind of mindless collateral damage.
[He frowns slightly.] There's a psychic and hive mind element to the condition, too, but I've only recently discovered parts of this for myself. When a sorcerer with psychic magics attempted to force me into unconsciousness, my power reacted on its own, and I tried to break him psychologically. [He doesn't know how else to explain it, when the memory is as foggy as it is. All that remains is a shadowy mirror of the feeling of being in bloodlust, and having a weaker creature prostrated before his claws.]
From all of this, I've gathered that it's more important that I be stopped in the middle of bloodlust, rather than trying to prevent it wholesale. No matter what I do, I think it's safe to assume that it's going to keep happening, because the city has advanced technologies and ways of influencing us that none of us understand.
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You've seen 2023, then, you've been a vampire for more than a hundred years.
[ it's a long time. Something about the modernity of it resonates with Nate. From Charles' dress and manner he'd thought him from an earlier time. Apparently not. ]
That's...okay.
[ He frowns. ]
Okay. There's a lot in that. My magic isn't really good against what the city does, they can just alter it, or nullify it altogether. Basically if the effect comes from them, there's no guarantee I could stop it.
But maybe I could still stop you. Make a charm that would, I don't know. Slow you down, or shock you hard enough to break through the fugue. Or if that wouldn't be enough, something to knock you out, maybe. We can experiment, see what works and what you're comfortable with.
But...tell me about this psychic sorcerer, too. Do you know their name?
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That's the idea I reached with a few others: something to stop me, even if the city's interventions themselves can't be stopped. Alaric - the psychic magic-user - was in the process of testing a measure of that nature on me, but he vanished from the city before it could be rooted in my mind. [He knows it's selfish to begrudge anyone leaving the city, but it'd been devastating to find out Alaric was gone, and made the same desperation he'd felt in February rear its ugly head all over again.]
Can you tell me a little more about your magics? I'm not picky about solutions, provided they work, [he admits] but I'd like to know how your power works, and where it comes from. [A beat.] No trade secrets, of course. [He does remember seeing something on the network about Nate starting up a business of some kind.]
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[ Charles may not know it, but this is absolutely Nate's favourite subject. ]
Magic is...everywhere. In everyone, everything, between places. It's the energy between realms. Most people can't see it, but witches like me can manipulate that energy. We're born with the power.
Technically speaking anyone could be born sensitive to it, to some degree, but it's rare. Witching families like mine have been cultivating the talent for centuries, through...selective marriage and. Well, breeding. My family, the Hawthornes, are one of the oldest, and strongest of them, so we have access to a wealth of knowledge gathered over time.
Just having the sensitivity isn't enough, you have to learn how to wield it. We've put structure around it, like a curriculum. Witches keep personal grimoires that record what they've learned. Work hard enough, and you can even learn to create spells, drawing on raw magic and manipulating it with your will. It takes time, and...obsession, frankly.
[ He shrugs his shoulders. ]
It's all secret in my world, or it's supposed to be. I actively caused a problem on that front for some time, there's a lot of traditions I don't agree with. But it's different here, anyway. Everything supernatural is a bit more...known, and close to the surface.
So.
[ A beat. ]
Does that...answer your question, even a little?
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To a certain degree. The part that doesn't make sense to me, is why magic like yours - and frankly, that of many others - should work in a place like this, when it must be drawn from your home world. [A beat.] But I have a feeling that's another of Duplicity's unexplained [but in this case, helpful] mysteries.
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No, not drawn from my home world. Quite the opposite. It's drawn from everywhere, all the time. Every world exists at once, and the spaces between those worlds is where magic comes from. It's everywhere, every time and every place. See, any world is a physical place. Magic isn't physical, it's something beyond. It doesn't have those kinds of constraints.
[ He lifts his shoulders, before leaning forward a bit on the table. ]
Or at least that's how I understand it.
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It's not magic's fault, exactly, but so much in Duplicity is a mess, scientifically. If he stops to consider the tangled logic of it all for too long, it gets frustrating.]
So, following that explanation, the magic you draw on exists in all of our home worlds, too. It's simply a matter of whether anyone from where we came from has discovered it and mastered the ability to use it, or not.
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[ Nate's magic works differently from Stephen Strange's, and so on. He isn't troubled by that. Every world is different, too. Why would it be surprising that magic might take different forms in each one? ]
I like that thought. Like the chaos of nature, expressing itself in different ways across an infinite universe.
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Chaos that, often enough, has rules guiding its expression. [Even nautilus shells express the Fibonacci sequence.] I prefer your explanation to the one I've heard often enough from other magic users in the city, which mostly amounts to shrugging, and saying it 'is what it is'.
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Yes, well. I've had to spend a lot of time thinking about the nature of the universe. My world's in some trouble on that front.
But...I can't change that here, and I much prefer problems I can solve, so. What do you think would work best, for getting you out of bloodlust? Could a shock bring you back to yourself, or would you need to be knocked out entirely?
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